Sri Lanka remain in control

The hosts closed on 269 for nine after Jerome Taylor and Daren Powell blocked out the final few overs.

Sri Lanka declared on 476 for eight on Sunday evening and, despite Ramnaresh Sarwan's 80 and a late charge from Denesh Ramdin (38) and Ryan Hinds (37), the Windies are in deep trouble 207 runs behind.

The openers failed to take advantage of the batting-friendly conditions in the same way the tourists had on the first two days.

The morning session saw the home team lose three wickets to careless shots after resuming on 29 for one.

Devon Smith (14) lazily prodded at a Thilan Thushara delivery and edged behind to Prasanna Jayawardene in the 20th over, before the paceman lured Marlon Samuels into wafting at another wide ball which he thick-edged to the wicketkeeper for five.

Shivnarine Chanderpaul offered some resistance, posting 23 before tamely scooping Muttiah Muralitharan to Malinda Warnapura at short cover to leave West Indies in danger of a capitulation on 58 for three.

Despite sporadic spells of confidence at the crease, they never recovered and laboured to a meagre total.

The Windies desperately needed their middle order to cement some huge scores in the afternoon session but Dwayne Bravo was trapped lbw by Muralitharan with the third ball after lunch for eight.

He had already been dropped by Jayawardene shortly before the break and looked anything but comfortable at the crease.